Hey everyone, this is a tutorial tutorial that took me a while to find time to finish but it's finally as done is I can make it right now! This, as with most of my tutorials, is mostly about realistic technique using graphite pencils. My hope is that you should be able to use these techniques with your own drawings. Alright, let's do this!

How to Draw Realistic Cats, Draw Real Cats

STEP 1.

Alright, here are my materials, the same that I have been using for the last couple of tutorials. I also used a kneaded eraser and 6H and 3H graphite pencils of another brand.

STEP 2.

Alright, lets jump straight into this by sketching out Momma Cat's body with basic shapes and forms. Don't worry about making mistakes and keep your sketching light.

STEP 3.

Sketch in kitten number one in Mamma's "lap." This guy's pose is a little complicated so try and break it down into basic shapes first if you are having trouble with it.

STEP 4.

Add in kitten number two. All you really see other than this kitten's head are a bit of its right arm and its left paw and forearm.

STEP 5.

All you have to do during this step is lightly darken the background. You don't need to make it as dark as possible yet.

STEP 6.

Now we can start defining things a bit. Start with the heads. First define the outlines with some like a 2b pencil and then lightly define the facial features.

STEP 7.

Work your way around the figures. I chose to go counter-clockwise and deal with the cat and kittens' heads first.

STEP 8.

Continue until you have your figures' outlines well defined.

STEP 9.

This step involves adding a background. You can make the background anything just remember that darker background will bring out your foreground more.

STEP 10.

You can continue developing your background throughout the drawing. You can see a bit of background development during this step. You can also start lightly sketching in details like the cats' stripes now.

STEP 11.

Here is the result of lightly sketching in the fur and stripes. This makes it easier to build more details during the remaining steps.

STEP 12.

This step involved adding darker values to the cats, from right to left. Pay attention to what kind of pencil strokes you are using. You should try to emulate the flow of the fur; it should almost feel as if you are drawing in every little strand of hair.

STEP 13.

Finish up with this portion of the drawing and move on to the next.

STEP 14.

Keep inching along and drawing in details. make the out lines separating the cats dark but make sure to blend them into the background. You don't want the outlines to be too bold, that would take away from the realism.

STEP 15.

Finish up by detailing the left side. I tried to make the light come in from the from the front right so the shadows should be moving to the left of the drawing. make the shadows as dark as possible using 7B-9B pencils.

STEP 16.

Here's a nice overview of our cats. You could actually call it done here but I chose to refine the drawing a bit more.

STEP 17.

Two big things took place during this step. Firstly, I smoothed out the background with my darkest pencils. I then took a soft tissue and very lightly blended over the cats. This may take away some of the details that you worked hard on but I find that it helps with the realism in the long run.

STEP 18.

Finish up by basically adding in the fur again, only this time with the harder pencils like HB and 2B. Also use a kneadable eraser to ease some of the lighter places around the cats' bodies and faces. So, to get the drawing this far took countless hours but always remember that you become quicker with experience so don't worry too much if your first time trying to draw something takes FOREVER. I really hope that this was helpful and informative. If you would like to request tutorials from me check out my website and let me know what you need. Happy drawing, everyone!

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